"I am innocent and I will be exonerated and found not guilty at trial," Pizzi said. "I want to thank all the dozens of residents of Miami Lakes who took a day off of work, a lot of these people took a day off of work to come here and show their support for me."

"All of us who have become familiar with this case, believe that he is innocent in the case," said Pizzi's attorney, Ed Shohat. "We're gonna come to court fully armed to demonstrate Mike's innocence in this case."

Hours before the hearing on Thursday night, Pizzi said he did nothing wrong and vowed to clear his name.

"After all this, I finally get to go to court tomorrow and see what if anything they’re going to charge me with. And then I get to plead not guilty and to plead my innocence, and then I get to pick a day to go to trial and prove my innocence,” Pizzi told NBC 6 South Florida. “Hopefully that will happen quickly and I could come back and continue serving the people of Miami Lakes.”